Current News

By Chris Graff.
Half of Vermonters want to see the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant shut down in two years, according to a poll released today. Only 27 percent support the continued operation of the Vernon reactor while 24 percent say they are not sure. (SEE POLL RESULTS BELOW).
The poll also found that 66 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay more for electricity if Vermont Yankee is shut down.
The survey of 400 Vermonters was conducted over the past weekend for a trio of news organizations, Vermont Business Magazine, WCAX-TV and WDEV Radio Vermont.
The results are in line with a similar poll two years ago when 29 percent supported relicensing of Vermont Yankee and 52 percent were opposed.
Considering the damaging events of the past month it s surprising the numbers are unchanged from two years ago.

Northern Power Systems, Inc, a next-generation wind turbine company and leading manufacturer of community wind turbines, today announced it named Parthiv Amin President of Community Wind. Amin will apply his extensive experience in the wind industry to continue to build on Northern’s leadership in the community wind marketplace.
Amin was formerly President of Winergy Drive Systems in the US, a business unit of Siemens Corp., the world’s largest wind turbine drive train (gearbox and generator) manufacturer. Prior to that role, he was Vice President of Global Marketing and Services at Emerson Electric Company, where he led global business development and played a key role in new product development and acquisition. Amin earned his post graduate studies in accounting and his MBA from Loyola College and completed undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced today that Burlington has received a major, and highly sought after Recovery Act ( Stimulus Bill ) grant. The $3.15 million award will be used for the Waterfront North project, which involves rebuilding the end of Lake Street, realigning and upgrading portions of the bike path, and constructing the parking necessary for the redevelopment of the Moran plant. The so-called TIGER grant was announced by DOT Secretary Ray LaHood.

by Chris Graff
Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie would defeat four of the five Democratic gubernatorial candidates if the election were held today, according to a poll released today. Only Secretary of State Deb Markowitz would beat Dubie - and Markowitz s edge, 43 percent to 41 percent, with 16 percent undecided is within the margin of error of the poll, conducted over the past weekend for a trio of news organizations, WCAX-TV, Vermont Business Magazine and WDEV Radio Vermont. (SEE POLL DATA BELOW)
The poll, which is decidedly early in the political season, reflects the fact that both Dubie and Markowitz hold statewide office and thus enjoy higher name recognition than the others.

Vermont Governor Jim Douglas on Wednesday officially welcomed AirBoss Defense to the state at the company’s new Milton plant, where the manufacturer will produce gloves to protect troops and first responders from chemical, nuclear, or biological hazards.
“This is a great day for not only both AirBoss and Vermont, but for the men and women who will use this safety equipment,” Douglas said. “They get state of the art protection; the company gets increased production capacity nearer a key market, and Vermont reaps the benefit of good jobs.”
Earl Laurie, Divisional President for AirBoss-Defense, said the company expected to have as many as 30 new workers on the job by month’s end in the combination manufacturing and distribution center located at the Catamount Industrial park in Milton, just north of Burlington, Vermont.

Weekly unemployment claims fell last week, continuing a downward trend since a spike at the end of 2009. They are now well below levels from a year ago. For the week of February 13, 2010, there were 821 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, a decrease of 126 from the week before. Altogether 14,658 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 168 from a week ago and 2,383 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 4997 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 48 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 3,552 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is an increase of 74 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/.

US Representative Peter Welch on Wednesday announced a $150,000 federal grant for an innovative job-training program offered by the Community College of Vermont.
Alongside recent graduates and teachers at CCV’s Montpelier site, Welch touted the Career Readiness Certificate Program as an effective means of equipping Vermonters with vital entry-level skills, while also supporting Vermont employers in need of a quality workforce.
The federal appropriation Welch secured will help CCV increase the number of students it can serve through the program and expand it to sites around the state.

WCAX-TV, Vermont Business Magazine and WDEV Radio Vermont are teaming up to cover politics. Three of the state’s leading news organizations announced this week they will team up to cover the 2010 election. This innovative three-way partnership will take the pulse of the public through television, print and radio.
The partnership will include polling, debates and special programming right up until Election Day on November 2nd.
“We will be asking the candidates where they stand on the critical issues of our time. The public deserves a hard look at the candidates and that is what we will be doing,” said VBM publisher John Boutin.
“For the first time, broadcast radio, broadcast television and in-depth print, new media and online news are coming together to deliver relevant coverage to the citizens of the Green Mountain State.” said WDEV President Ken Squier. “We can’t wait.”

US Senator Patrick Leahy and members of the Putney Historical Society, Preservation Trust of Vermont and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board met at the site of the Putney General Store Wednesday morning to announce that a new $60,000 federal grant will ensure that construction on the new General Store can begin this year.
None of us here could have imagined that instead of touring a new and improved Putney General Store today we would be standing in front of a vacant lot, said Leahy. But the fact that we are still here is a testament to the Putney community and another example of how in a time of crisis Vermonters pull together.

Eight states will join with the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) to use the world’s best instructional systems and examinations to dramatically increase the number of students who leave high school ready to succeed in college. Students who show they are ready to do college level work will be able to get their diploma and enroll in college as early as the end of their sophomore year in high school.
In today’s announcement from Washington, NCEE President Marc Tucker announced that Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont will work with NCEE through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the performance of high school students in these eight states by adopting powerful instructional systems that actually set the international standards.

Vermont Yankee engineers and technicians have identified a likely source of a tritium leak at the Vernon nuclear power station, according to a statement from Yankee released last night. As noted by Yankee on Saturday, workers were successful in inserting a conduit into the Advanced Off Gas pipe tunnel from the AOG Building side of the tunnel. This allowed an inspection of the tunnel using a boroscope. The inspection found standing water in the tunnel. The water was tested and found to contain tritium in a concentration of 2,400,000 pCi/L. A level of 200,000 pCi/L is considered by the EPA as the maximum safe level in drinking water. On Sunday, workers shut off flow from a drain line associated with one of the plant s hydrogen recombiner units and began moving the standing water out of the tunnel to be processed through the normal radiological waste treatment systems. The drain line appears to be a likely source for the water found in the tunnel, according to Yankee.

Fletcher Allen reported a net operating income of approximately $96,000 for the first quarter of the 2010 Fiscal year. The first quarter covers the period beginning October 1st and ending December 31, 2010. The organization also finished its 2009 fiscal year approximately $1.2 million above budget. The fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30. The net operating income for the first quarter was approximately $4.6 million below the budgeted amount of $4.7 million, and $3.9 million below the first quarter of FY 2009.
Total operating revenues for the first quarter were $210.2 million, approximately $10.9 million below budget. The organization s operating expenses for the quarter were $210.1 million, $6.3 million below budget, resulting in the net operating gain of $96,000 and a slightly positive operating margin for the first quarter. By comparison, the organization had an operating margin of 2.0 % in the first quarter of FY 2009.